Drove 2008 Sti Last Week

[DrewII]

ok. so the look isnt to everyones liking. my boss has a black one. the R model with the bigger wheels and leather bucket seats etc etc. Reason why i'm reporting this. I own an R33 gts-t black, 98 model 40th anniv with all this shit in it:

HKS air filter

Kakimoto 3" exhaust

Monza front mount intercooler

Turbosmart manual boost controller (13 psi)

Exedy Twin Plate Clutch

Tein fully adjustable jap spec coil over suspension

Buddy Club P1 light weight racing alloys

New bushels

rear pineapples

suspension arms in the rear

Front/Rear Sway bars

Maxis tyres 255x40 handles and grips like its on rails

Front Slotted Rotors

Earthing kit

Recaro bucket seats

Defi Multi Link gauges (4 gauges) in gauge pod

Turbo Timer

Gtech Pro RR Performance Meter

Short shifter kit

320 km/hr Nismo Speedometer

Nismo 400R body kit with modified front bar

After market rear tail lights LEDs

GT wing

HID head lights

Defi Glass display speedometer (reflects off dash into glass you can see how fast your driving just by staring straight ahead)

Gear indicator (very cool. displays the gear your in)

I paid 16 grand for my car first owner in the country owner in japan did all the work to it. Reason why i'm writing this is because i was thinking about selling mine and buying the new sti.

i had the sti for half of last week to drive to work and around sydney city had to run a couple errands. drove it on the freeway, through some tight suburban streets and of course i gave the thing a pounding. i was told to not hold back lol. however

the good:

very comfortable leather recaro seats.

awesome sat navigational system

even more awesome rear parking sensor with camera (as soon as you put car in reverse it even reminds you to check behind you for obstacles!!!)

the interior is very roomy

the purr from the four cylinder horizontally opposed (Boxer) engine can still be heard very well from inside the car even with factory exhaust. this sound did excite me.

the front end does look fairly tough. especially in black.

the chix in the city were sussing me out. not sure if its cos they saw such a young person driving such a new car or if it was the car itself. still undecided.

the bad:

price tag for R model $75,000 !!

fun? where is the fun. traction control, stability control, AWD the car may as well drive itself for you. cornering was a pleasure but really far from what i would call "fun" honestly the only fun i felt in this car was from people staring at me in a brand new sti and 2nd gear which gave me a nice little rush.

cheap interior. jap yes i know i have a skyline with cheap interior but i jumped in the cock pit of my car after and straight away i felt my interior for a ten year old car aint that far off that of the sti???!!! ill admit my dash and cock pit has gauges and recaros and shit hanging off it from head to toe so aint exactly a stock cock pit.

brakes are brembos. couple occasions had to press really hard on them to make the car stop. bit scary maybe an adjustment thing from having really good after market brakes in my skyline.

even worse still. i rang MRT for my boss he even feels the same way i do. so to give the car a bit more presence and make him more excited i arranged for an exhaust to be installed with mrt. i made the call to MRT. the exhaust system fully installed drive in and drive away $2,600. and will give no power increase at all. the sti computers are too advanced apparently so the fueling map goes out. to get any power gain from an exhaust need to spend another $2,200 for some fuel map. just to tune the exhaust. so another 5 grand on top of the already expensive $75,000 for your first power modification??? great.

so...at the end of each day. returning back to my car. i sat inside. and straight away. felt like i was in a much much better car for the money. the car was much more fun to drive, it gets even more looks from women than the sti (still not sure if its the good looking driver or the car ???) and which on a power comparison are producing very similar amounts of power. the pull, the excitement. it was there. cannot justify spending all that money for something i already have and enjoy a lot more. for a quarter of the price. ill be waiting for other manufacturers to come out with something more exciting to buy. and in the mean time. im keeping my car.

[RB30-POWER]

whats it like down low, any punch or still a little doughy?

[Bakes]

Not to mention the fact that the new Impreza has styling suited to hairdressers and middle aged women

[DrewII]

first gear felt like it had the same amount of pull as my car. of course the launch was perfect but the gear is extremely short and runs out of puff have to do a quick upshift into second where the sti power really comes on hard. down low still very doughy. normal cruising was simply boring. and the look well. the look has been touched upon by a lot of people. probably something you could get used to over time but iv been staring at this car now for a few weeks and it still hasnt grown on me. however the front end does look tough in black. iv seen a white one drive towards me and hardly looked tough at all.

and i know i can buy a gtr etc etc feel a lot better than my car but im after a brand new car to get on a lease for work. so second hand cars older than three years can't be bought on a novated lease agreement.

Edited July 16, 2008 by DrewII

[_bobo_]

nice write up

i first saw it and wasnt to impressed with the new look =[...but yeah the front does look tuff i think.

[nitestalkr]

decent write up man.. and fairly scary findings on the mod side of things . but i suppose all late model cars are now heading the same way

[PM-R33]

Yeah the new wrx's really just don't do it for me, would definetely prefer the last "sedan" model over the new hatches.

[lingeringsoul]

As with all new cars, mods are expensive as most people are still wanting their warranty. Give it 4 years and we'll see $400 exhaust kits and cheaper ecu tune.

Fact remains, the STI is still faster than the EVOX, God I hate admitting that.

[ssshonky]

regarding the overly cautious handling

whiteline have released a product called " the blackbox " that allows you to tinker with the standard stability controls etc. They even say on their website that standard shocks / springs /swaybars/bushes are no longer enough to get a new " technology rich " car to handle like you want it to.

a bit of a shame - as I beleive having cars that " keep you safe " also dont allow drivers to experiment and learn how to get out of a skid/ hairy situation

you know what I mean ? I am not encouraging young bucks to go out and smash into a kerb testing their limits - but old cars didnt " step in " to save you. so you had to learn yourself how to do it.

[-FIGJAM-]

any pics of the new STI?

[ITZTRU]

As with all new cars, mods are expensive as most people are still wanting their warranty. Give it 4 years and we'll see $400 exhaust kits and cheaper ecu tune.

Fact remains, the STI is still faster than the EVOX, God I hate admitting that.

My understanding was that the evo's always JUST had a better 1/4 mile run time than the STI's...

I don't know much (if anything at all) about the new evo's and sti's. are the sti's just marginally faster than the evo's or is there a significant difference this time?

[lingeringsoul]

Best Motoring tested it, said the Evo handled better, put them in a race and the STI won

Top Gear tested it, said the Evo handled better and that STI was rubbish but STI had the better lap time.

minor lap time differences nothing huge as far as I know.

[vinnie32GTS4]

As with all new cars, mods are expensive as most people are still wanting their warranty. Give it 4 years and we'll see $400 exhaust kits and cheaper ecu tune.

Fact remains, the STI is still faster than the EVOX, God I hate admitting that.

apparently the evo 9 beats both the new sti and evoX

anyways nice write up

I had some tool on a test drive in the 08 STI up my ass the other day he drove past me gave me a rev and then i replied "the car ur driving looks like my ass hole" he wasnt happy with that gave me the finger and sped off..Nice one c*ckhead. lol

[Amir]

MRT are expensive. I would have tried calling the guys in silverwater. he would get more for his 5K.

I thought the new evo X had 206kw but in a mag i picked up it states it is 217kw. i think they have turned up the boost a bit to match the sti.

[MFC05]

I reckon they are ugly looking car when compared to the new EVO, i dont think i would ever buy a Subaru

[ITZTRU]

I reckon they are ugly looking car when compared to the new EVO, i dont think i would ever buy a Subaru

are you talking STI or subaru in general?

i don't know...i happen to like the liberty sti

[Juan]

Prefer the old model

[PM-R33]

Definetely prefer the new Liberty STI over the new WRX STI

[m3gtr]

whats it like down low, any punch or still a little doughy?

Ive also driven the Sti - Optioned with the a few different things here in Tokyo.

I own an Sti Forester so i wanted to compare horses with horses...

I really liked it and i disagree with some of O.P's comments. Owning an Sti is very different to owning a Skyline - different animals. Especially when youre comparing a 12 year old R33 to a brand new, technically laden WRX.

The SI drive was interesting and although a little gimmicky, its really only throttle and engine mapping - It has fly by wire throttle and only 4 settings. Economy, Normal, Sport and Sport #

In economy it really does feel like its having trouble breathing - lacking any urge. It was in this mode that the guy from Subaru placed it in and i wasnt aware of it so as i was driving i was thinking - what is wrong with this thing? It wasnt until i tried the Sport setting that things changed and i mean drastically.

It picked up so much more urge and around 3,500 rpm started pulling very hard losing a little steam towards 8000 rpm.

It really came across as a little feral. The Forester is a 2.5 and achieves peak power at 6500rpm and peak torque even as low as 5800rpm. Theres no need to visit the 7000rpm limit because of the extra grunt and taller gearing. The WRX on the other hand was peakier, called to be revved harder and in turn felt more involving but a little raspy and manic. It also sounded really good in the upper part of the rev range.

In Sport# it was even better - the engine and throttle mapping giving the engine its richest mixture and you certainly can notice it, power wise.

Price wise, the base grade WRX is around 32k in Japan and with all the fruit including the recaros which are a 4k option and the navigation system which is another 2k, youre up around the 43k mark..which by the sounds of it is much better value here than there.